How Avetta Increased Rep Engagement in Training by 75%

As a leader in supply chain risk management and sustainability solutions, Avetta is a global company with over 125,000 suppliers across 120+ countries. To support its sales teams across multiple geographies, the enablement team knew it needed to deliver robust training programs from onboarding to sales methodology training and ongoing learning. But with different types of training materials spread across three different tools, Avetta struggled to engage reps in learning programs. To simplify the rep experience and drive adoption, the team decided to invest in a solution to unify sales materials and training programs in one platform through Highspot.

Multiple Systems Hindered Adoption

At Avetta, simplifying and streamlining processes to improve the lives of sales reps was a top priority. But with three different access points for sales and training assets, reps faced difficulty navigating between systems, ultimately causing barriers to adoption. “As a company we’ve made key training investments, for example bringing on Challenger. But because we had multiple systems where reps access sales content, readiness materials, as well as Challenger skills training, it led to adoption hurdles for our sellers,” explained Kristin Kelly, director of learning and enablement at Avetta. For reps, navigating multiple systems for training and sales content caused wasted time and energy. “It’s tough enough for reps to manage the cognitive load of ramping up on a technical product and nailing the value proposition,” shared Kelly. “We don’t want them to have to worry about where they need to go to access certain assets or brush up on specific skills.”

In addition to causing complex processes for reps to navigate, managing multiple systems also created inefficiencies for Avetta’s enablement team. For example, Avetta’s use of a corporate LMS solution to support new hire orientation made it difficult for the enablement team to tailor training to the evolving needs of sales teams. “First, it was a huge effort for the enablement team to upload content to our LMS to customize for sales,” said Kelly. “Second, the data provided by the tool gave us no real insight into whether these onboarding programs effectively set our reps up for success at the conclusion of their orientation.”

Similarly, adding sales methodology content into training programs required multiple steps to download from the Challenger portal, reformat, and upload into another training tool. “It was a big lift for administrators and it was time they could have spent on crafting the effective learning objectives or setting up customized learning paths,” described Kelly. To improve training adoption and boost productivity, Avetta needed to reduce the inefficiencies for reps and enablement practitioners alike.

Unifying Training Content in a Single System

By unifying sales assets, training content, and sales methodology material within Highspot, Avetta focused the delivery of its enablement programs on the needs of reps rather than the logistics of making it happen. This helped the team dedicate more time to customizing and tailoring training content and spend less time on administrative maintenance across different tools. For example, the team evolved from general orientation to a more sales-specific guided onboarding experience. “Role-specificity is incredibly important to getting reps ready to hit the ground running, which led us to including relevant skill development material alongside product and service training content,” said Kelly.

The unified approach to training gave the Avetta team the structure it needed to help reps build confidence while balancing the ability to dynamically evolve learning content alongside changes in the business to accelerate rep productivity. “Learning Paths in Highspot helped us build structure into our training programs, but the ease at which we could customize paths by group and add and remove courses made our enablement team more dynamic to the needs of reps,” shared Kelly.

Also central to the success of Avetta’s sales teams was the ability to reinforce critical concepts on-the-job for reps. Through the Highspot Marketplace, Avetta was able to add content from its sales methodology partner, Challenger, to its enablement programs in a matter of clicks, enhancing the team’s effectiveness overnight. “Right away, we were able to interweave our onboarding programs with relevant Challenger modules and resources, which not only maximized the investment we’d made but also helped reps by not forcing them to go hunting for skills content,” described Kelly.

Similarly, Highspot’s integration with Avetta’s CRM, Salesforce, helped to reach reps where they are with training content throughout the sales cycle. “Sales content and training together is powerful, but the connection to Salesforce is critical,” explained Kelly. “It allows us to reach our sellers with relevant training material on-the-job, as part of their daily workflow.” By seamlessly reinforcing skills and knowledge on the job with a unified platform for training, Avetta improved adoption, enhanced sales effectiveness, and boosted the ROI of its training programs.

More Engaged Reps Result in Higher Productivity

Avetta has created a strategic sales enablement program that not only supports onboarding and training but also adapts to meet the needs of sales reps and the business on an ongoing basis. “We can take better advantage of the training investments we’ve made,” said Kelly. “While our reps have access to the full range of Challenger assets through the Challenger Hub, we can reinforce critical skills in Highspot and observe which of our reps are on pace.”

As a result, Avetta has significantly improved the adoption and engagement of training material. “Before Highspot, we had lower adoption of newly launched training programs, which usually led to sellers taking up to two months to fully complete required training modules,” shared Kelly. “Now, reps are progressing through training 50% faster and we’ve seen that repeat viewing of methodology content is over 75% more than when reps had to log into a separate learning hub to view the training resources.” With more reps engaged in training programs, Avetta has also boosted rep productivity. “Highspot Analytics shows us who is using the training material, and with these leading indicators, we know which of our reps will hit their goals,” explained Kelly. “We’ve already seen an improvement in quota attainment. We’re excited to continue expanding our strategic enablement programs using Highspot and Challenger.”